Assessing the role of stakeholder platforms as drivers of resilient communities: the case of Malawi

ABSTRACT

Purpose: Climate-related shocks increasingly stress food systems, making resilience-building among rural communities crucial to food security. The Strengthening Agricultural and Nutrition Extension (SANE) project in Malawi strengthens stakeholder platforms to improve farmers’ capacities towards climate change, food security, and community resilience. This paper provides empirical evidence for SANE’s Theory of Change.

Design/methodology/approach: A mixed-methods approach was used to evaluate how strengthening stakeholder platforms affects farmers’ voice and community resilience. Quantitative and qualitative data, captured via structured interviews of stakeholder platform members in SANE and non-SANE districts, was used to track changes over time and analyze how differences in platforms’ functionality relate to farmers’ voice, responsiveness to farmers’ needs, and more resilient communities.

Findings: Results show tangible improvements in platform functionality in SANE districts over time as well as substantial differences when comparing the performance of these stakeholder platforms in SANE and non-SANE districts. The qualitative evidence also illustrates how stronger platforms help farmers’ advocacy and ability to deal with climate-related shocks.

Practical implications: Stronger platforms not only facilitate better extension service delivery, but also reduce the need for external support as communities work to address their own problems, itself a form of resilience.

Theoretical implications: The adoption of bottom-up and participatory extension approaches where farmers become active drivers of extension curricula can be instrumental in improving food security and resilience to shocks.

Originality/value: This study shows that efforts directed at the extension system are part of the solution, and system-focused research can provide unique insights.

KEYWORDS:

• Stakeholder platforms
• participatory extension
• farmers’ voice
• food security
• resilience
• Malawi

Acknowledgements

We thank all the members of the SANE team, including Clodina Chowa, Stacia Nordin, Grace Mzumara, and Leon Hounnou; as well as the respondents in this survey. We gratefully acknowledge the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) for support.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Cristina Álvarez-Mingote is a Research Specialist in the Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics and for the AgReach program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She works on the political economy of development, with current emphasis on the public provision of agricultural extension services. Her most recent research addresses issues of governance, accountability, and farmers’ involvement in extension service delivery in Malawi. Cristina holds a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and a Master in Economics from the University of Oviedo in Spain.

Austen Moore serves as the Agricultural and Development Manager for the AgReach program at the University of Illinois and also as the Deputy Project Director for the Strengthening Agricultural and Nutrition Extension (SANE) project in Malawi. Austen is a development practitioner and researcher, with a recent focus in Malawi, Liberia, Ghana, and Timor Leste. He served as co-editor of Building Agricultural Extension in Post-Conflict Countries and has authored articles covering agricultural extension, food security, post-conflict agriculture, and community development. Austen holds a Ph.D. from the University of Florida, MA from New Mexico State University, and BA from Yale University.

Paul E. McNamara is an Associate Professor in the Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics and the Division of Nutritional Sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He directs the AgReach Program (www.agreach.illinois.edu), a program of development action and research aimed at reducing gaps in agrisystems in order to promote smallholder farmers. He also serves as Principal Investigator for the USAID-funded Strengthening Agriculture and Nutrition Extension (SANE) Project in Malawi. His research, outreach, and teaching efforts are in the areas of extension and rural development. McNamara holds a Ph.D. from the Department of Applied Economics at the University of Minnesota and a MPP from the Harvard Kennedy School.

Notes

1 The composition of ASPs, DSPs and DAECCs varies slightly: ASPs requires representation of farmers (smallholders and commercial), state and non-state actors, and the private sector. Representation at DSPs is similar to ASPs with the exception of state actors coming from the district level, such as the District Agricultural Development Officers. The DAECC, which is more targeted towards the coordination of extension providers at the district level, does not include farmers but is composed of state, non-state and private sector actors.

2 SANE districts: Balaka, Blantyre, Chikwawa, Dedza, Lilongwe, Machinga, Mangochi, Mchinji, Nsanje, and Ntcheu. Non-SANE districts: Dowa, Karonga, Kasungu, Mwanza, Nkhatabay, Nkhotakhota, Phalombe, Rumphi, Thyolo, and Zomba.

3 See also Minh, Larsen, and Neef (2010) in this respect.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) through the Feed the Future Malawi Strengthening Agricultural and Nutrition Extension Services Activity (SANE) [grant number AID-612-LA-15-00003] activity at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.